Saurabh Shah, COO and co-founding pharmacist of Camascope, recently discussed the company's collaboration with Nourish, and how Camascope's electronic Medication Administration Record (eMAR) system seamlessly integrates with Nourish's care management platform. Here's what he had to say:
Q: As more than 3,000 care providers across the UK are now fully rolled-out with Nourish, we know that many are starting to make plans to implement eMAR systems. What makes Camascope such a good choice for providers using Nourish?
A: Care providers who’ve embraced Nourish for their care planning needs will find Camascope’s eMAR system a natural next step. The two-way integration between Camascope and Nourish simplifies care planning and medication management, bringing both critical health and medication information together in one centralised location. By integrating the two systems, all medication administered will appear on the daily Nourish timeline and within the Care Plan. First response teams can also see contextual medication information within the Nourish Emergency Information Pack.
Feedback we keep hearing again and again from our clients is the need to see all care information together, with all systems working together in harmony. It is almost impossible for a single system to support all of an organisation’s care needs, and so it’s up to us as suppliers to work with each other to deliver best-in class technology within our areas of expertise
Our partnership with Nourish also represents our shared commitment to help care providers deliver proactive, high-quality care. Like Nourish, Camascope’s eMAR is designed to fit the unique demands of different care environments – from supported living to care homes – ensuring technology fits perfectly around the needs of any given care setting.
Q: One of the most common concerns providers flag to us in regards to eMAR is around being able to still use their local pharmacy. How does Camascope support this?
A: Our policy is always to ensure that a care provider retains its existing pharmacy. Our national network of pharmacies, which includes major chains, online services, and local independents, ensures care providers can continue working with their preferred pharmacies when moving to eMAR. This helps to keep a level of continuity when it comes to managing medications, and minimising the amount of change an organisation has to contend with when moving to eMAR.
Integrations with pharmacies allow prescriptions to flow directly into the eMAR system, minimising errors and relieving care staff from the manual entry of medication details. We are constantly expanding our pharmacy partnerships to make the shift to eMAR even smoother for care providers.
It’s worth mentioning that when providers are looking to move onto an eMAR system, they are also often reviewing their pharmacy provision too. We can also work with providers to help smooth the transition if or when they do end up moving pharmacy. However, it’s important that any change that takes place is completely led by the care provider.
Q: There seems to be a bit of a shift happening in the pharmacy sector, many of the local pharmacies seem to be closing down and lots of online pharmacies without a physical footprint are opening up. What is Camascope doing to stay ahead of this?
A: Before starting Camascope, I worked as a pharmacist and would dispense for care homes in my neighbouring region. It was the day-to-day struggle with managing the dispensing process for several care homes that led to the development of our very first product that helps pharmacies manage care homes processes more efficiently and effectively.
As a company, we are rooted in the pharmacy sector and understand its needs and challenges. We are integrated with an ever-expanding network of both physical and online pharmacies to ensure our services meet their changing needs. By strengthening these partnerships and supporting traditional pharmacies in their digital transformation, we ensure that we stay ahead of the curve, and most importantly that care providers can choose the model that best suits their needs.
We have developed a pharmacy portal that caters to the shift we’re seeing in the sector, where care home specific pharmacies, such as internet pharmacies, are dispensing at greater scale than previously. The Camascope portal provides pharmacies with a direct window into care home medication processes, improving communication and reducing errors.
Q: If you had to pick out your favourite feature in Camascope, what would it be?
A: Our intention has always been to build a system that promotes high-quality care and helps to reduce medication-related errors in a care setting. Our medication clashing feature is a perfect example of a feature that delivers on this mission. Within our eMAR system, care staff receive immediate alerts about potential drug clashes. In residential homes, in particular, staff may not have the medication expertise to identify a specific drug clash.
The feature ensures that care staff are made aware of any potential clashes between drugs that could lead to medication errors or even overdoses. From my perspective, it’s rewarding to see the number of alerts that have been identified and actioned on the system as a result of this feature.
If you’d like to know how Camascope's new eMAR solution can work for your organisation, contact us to find out more.
